"Way more nuanced than it looks." - local multiplayer games (Steam curator)
There Will Be Ink is a difficult tactical action game for 1-8 players. Play solo or with friends in battles between stick figure armies on a paper notepad, just like you used to draw in class instead of paying attention!
TWBI is a difficult game, where charging forward into the fray will rarely win a battle. Assessing the battlefield, taking cover as needed, and keeping an eye on troop positions are all essential for winning the day. Or, if that sounds like a chore, switch to "Arcade Mode" and run & gun at will!
Tactical Depth
As units gain experience and level up during a battle, they become progressively more proficient at battle and will go prone to evade danger, hide behind cover when attacking, and dodge incoming rockets and grenades. Ranking up also increases attributes such as stamina, ammo capacity, weapon accuracy, and even how quickly a unit will raise or lower a flag to take over a building. Actions such as running, rolling, and throwing grenades require stamina, and if a unit’s stamina runs out they become exhausted and must wait a short period to catch their breath. Outside of battle, the player can use experience points earned during battle to unlock unit-specific and global training and weapon upgrades as well as HQ abilities like ammo drops, paratroopers, and air strikes.
Mission Variety
While some missions see you attack the enemy head on, others involve building up a base using engineers, rescuing prisoners behind enemy lines using a lone sniper, fighting against your own defecting forces, traditional "boss" fights, and even battling it out at sea, at night, or on a ski slope. In addition to the built-in campaign missions, There Will Be Ink includes a map editor to design your own battlefields from scrap. Or, if you're not feeling creative, be sure to check out the "Quick Battle" option, which allows you to choose a few variables using sliders and toggles and then jump into a random map. There is even a procedural campaign generator that will generate a series of progressively more difficult missions across a series of landscapes.
Persistent Battlefield
In There Will Be Ink, the history of any given battle is retained by the craters, shells, and red ink spilled on the battlefield, while end-of-battle stats are there to give you a more numerical analysis of the battle.
Play With Friends
Play with or against up to 7 friends in local multiplayer (or with a few friends online using Steam Remote Play Together). A team can play through a whole campaign together or just a quick battle or player-designed map. In campaign missions that were previously won, players can join the enemy team for an extra challenge (or not!). In addition to end-of-battle stats for players to compare, badges are presented to players for such feats as the most kills, longest streak, most deaths avenged, and many more (including less brag-worthy badges like most deaths and most medics killed).
Game Features:
- Fast-paced tactical gameplay with a focus on cover
- Take control of any friendly unit on the battlefield
- Play through 56 missions across three campaigns
- Jump into a quick battle with the random map generator, with sliders and toggles for troops & buildings, trees, debris, and rivers
- Unlock new recruit types as you play, including rifle infantry, assault infantry, snipers, medics, RPG troops, heavy machine gunners, engineers, laser jetpack troops, and flamethrowers, why not!
- Full featured map editor – lay out a battlefield and jump straight into the action
- Campaign Generator - set your parameters and click a button to create a new series of progressively more difficult missions
- Enjoy hundreds of frames of (poorly but enthusiastically) hand-drawn art!
- Join a battle in progress for 8 player local co-op or vs. gameplay (requires 4 XInput and 4 DirectInput gamepads)
- Online multiplayer using Steam's Remote Play Together
- Navigate dynamic battlefields by wading across rivers and taking cover behind trees, rocks, sandbags, and craters left behind in the chaos
- T-Rex with jetpacks! Maniacal Yeti!
- Compensate for weather effects like rain, wind, and smoke rising from burning buildings and trees
- Earn training credits, even when a battle is lost, to assign new abilities to your troops
